dry drunk meaning: definition, quotations

dry drunk

noun

A recovering alcoholic who is not drinking alcohol, but has relapsed mentally and emotionally;

Denise called Frank a "dry drunk." He no longer drank but he continued to indulge in "the same wild, erratic behavior binges" without the "excuse of alcohol" in his system.2013, Kate Maloy, Margaret Jones Patterson, Birth Or Abortion?: Private Struggles in a Political World, →ISBN:
"I think Big Jed's dad may be a dry drunk. He seems to have all the problems of an alcoholic, just not the drinking.[…]"2020, M. D. Linville M. Meadows, A Spiritual Pathway to Recovery from Addiction, A Physician's Journey of Discovery, →ISBN:

Such a relapse.

Family members frequently report that a dry drunk is as difficult to live with as a "wet drunk." After all, it is not the drinking and drugging that bothers family members but the abusive, unpredictable behavior that comes with it.1991, Philip St. Romain, Freedom from Codependency, →ISBN, page 60:
One of the best ways out of a "dry drunk" is to work with another still-suffering alcoholic.1995, Hamilton B., Getting Started in AA, →ISBN, page 186:

Any substance addict who has quit using, but remains psychologically dependent.

Abstinence leaves me without nicotine, but still living with the old beliefs and behaviors that cry for the drug—in short, living a "dry drunk."1990, Ellen Walker, Smoker: Self-portrait of a Nicotine Addict, →ISBN:

adj

Being a recovering alcoholic who has quit drinking alcohol, but remains psychologically dependent.

But more interestingly, they distinguish between being "dry drunk"—being on the wagon, but still wanting to drink—and being "sober," neither drinking nor wanting to.2017, The Best of The Lifted Brow: Volume Two, →ISBN: